Winter wildlife sitings to date: 6 bald eagles! these guys were so regal.
2 big horn sheep! 2 coyotes.
Canyonlands is so quiet in February.
With a closed visitors center we stumbled upon our first stop: Murphy Trailhead at Big Island in the Sky, so named because it is a large mesa 2000 feet above the Colorado and Green rivers. The White rim you see below is about 1000 feet below the mesa. At the trailhead you have no clue of the amazing cliff edge to explore at it's terminus.
vast. layered. a color palate so grounded. geology revealed
loving the botanical curiosities. the desert is still so new to me.
love the pinon pine cones and mormon tea--so aquatic and succulent.
The Green River.
so much to get lost in. macro and micro
blackbrush? Coleogyne ramosissima perhaps? Yes, I'm so obsessed with the plants I saw there I'm ready and willing to go Latin.
unfounded fear of the cold night camping sent us into Moab (a strange little strip of a town...where even at the brewery you'll find mostly 3.2% beers, a great gear store with free water and a solid cafe, in spite of or because of the name, Wake & Bake cafe, delicious, cheap, and lots of veggie options.) Day two we scrambled around Needles via the Big Spring Canyon to Squaw Canyon trail. My camera battery was dead...so we planned another trip :)...but wouldn't have taken many photos as this particular loop trail was a true scramble, it says that "it may make people with a fear of heights uncomfortable" I can confirm. But I made it, and it was totally worth it.
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